Over Flanders Fields - Tips & Tricks

Disclaimer

The following tips and tricks have been collected through the internet.
Some of them are based on own experience. Only a part of them have been
tried out or applied by us. Those tips and ticks ma work or not work on
your PC depending on the configuration of hard- and software you are
running. Your mileage may vary.
We hold no reponsibility if you damage your PC or your Sopwith Camel
does not fly straight anymore by applying these tips and tricks.

Other Sources

There is another source of knowledge which is excellent:
OFF FAQ by Polovski.
Please visit there for much more in-depth knowledge about Over Flanders
Fields. Polovski is member of the OFF Development Team.

Gameplay

You guys can doubt, but people have reported several times that they had poor AI - upgraded (their pc hardware), got much better AI. I have consistently had much better AI than some people describe, WM too. Yes we see oddities but not as often as others.

We believe it is also tied to your sliders. If you lower them CFS believes you are lowering them as your CPU/GPU is lower powered, and this lowers AI - Ez … try increasing your sliders (fps goes down of course) but see if AI is better. Maybe better to try it on a meatier PC though so you have some fps to fly with to judge by. Anyway that's all I am saying on the subject. Phase 3 it is a different ball game so other issues will occur and Phase 2 ones less.

This is the latest workaround for those who want 'historical' mixture control. I have tested all the a/c in Quick Combat, with flights to altitude, to make sure that it works. But if you adopt this approach to mixture control in OFF, you will find that in some a/c types - those marked 'NO' or 'NO (lean)' - you will be at a slight disadvantage to the AI pilots at higher altitudes (as they will not be restricted in the same way to not 'leaning' the air/fuel mixture as you are), and you may also fall behind your flight leader in a climb (for the same reason).

Those marked 'NO (lean)' should now be 'leaned' immediately after take-off by reducing mixture (Ctrl -) until there is a significant drop in rpm - just one click on (ctrl =) to enrich should then send rpm back up to within 20-40 rpm of full rpm for most engines. This should then be the default for the rest of the mission, and no further changes to the mixture should be made - the a/c should be able to get up to 'historical' operational altitudes (or within about 10%, which I think is 'good enough'), at the expense of a very slight reduction in power at low altitude. There is some evidence that at least some (though possibly not all) German a/c carburettors were adjusted this way to give improved altitude performance. 'YES/AUT'. is the setting for the 'overcompressed' German engines - it gives the player the choice of either adjusting for altitude manually, or letting the sim. do it for you (the mixture control for altitude was integrated into the throttle control, in all of these engines, and although this did require some manual input on the part of the pilot it did not require a separate mixture control).

YES = Manual Mixture Control; YES/AUT. = Manual Mixture Control; or set to 'Automatic' in Workshop; NO = No mixture control (accept the default at take-off); NO (lean) = 'lean' to reduce rpm by approx. 20-40 immediately after take-off, and use this as the new default setting, just as for 'NO'

With manual mixture control selected as a workshop setting, the default mixture setting for take-off is the one that will give you the best power or performance. You then only have to 'lean' the mixture as you gain altitude, keeping an eye on the rpm and listening to the sound of the engine: if you notice that rpm has dropped slightly, or the engine starts to sound a bit 'rough' then 'lean' the mixture [Ctrl + -] until the rpm rise again (although if you then lean the mixture too far, rpm will drop again - it needs a bit of fiddling with to find the correct setting). There is really no other guide than the rpm dial and the sound of the engine. Most German non-rotary engines would have been 'automatic' from about March 1918 onwards, so selecting Automatic Mixture Control for these in the workshop setting should be the historically correct option for these types from about March 1918 onwards.

To switch off the on-screen messages in Over Flanders Fields you have to do the following:

Run the config tool (main OFF folder cfs3config.exe or in Phase 3 it's available from the workshops screen in the manager), then go to file (top left corner of window) select 'custom settings', hit 'OK'. A new window comes up. Go to window (text top left corner), click and a list appears, select 'overides'. This brings up a new window with a list of things to enable and disable. Top right side there are the following:

Hardware

For some reason if you use pedals they are reversed in cfs3/OFF heres the fix:

You need to change the following entries in your XCA file located in C:\Documents and Settings\yourusername\Application Data\Microsoft\Combat Flight Simulator 3.0
The folder may be hidden so check un-hide files and folders. All you do is make the original entry into a negative number and the pedals will work properly.

If you happen to have a Logitech Mouse with Logitech's Setpoint Software
installed and running then you will not be able to use TrackIR with
Combat Flight Simulator 3 and its total conversions like Over Flanders
Fields and such.

The solution is to end the Setpoint Software by right-clicking its
task tray symbol and selecting 'switch off'. After that you can start
OFF or CFS3 and TrackIR will recognize it and work with it. When you
are finished with playing then simply start Setpoint again by the
programs menu of Windows or start setpoint.exe in the installation
folder for Logitech.

If you happen to run Windows Vista then you will not be able to use
TrackIR with Combat Flight Simulator 3 and its total conversions
like Over Flanders Fields and such.

The solution is not easy. Install Windows XP as a dual boot option
on your PC and play OFF with Windows XP. This is for the advanced user
only.

Update on 23-Sep-2008: Thanks to the OFF Development Team there is a fix
available. You now can use TrackIR with CFS 3/OFF under Windows Vista starting
with TrackIR driver 4.1.036 beta 01. Get the driver from the NaturalPoint
downloads page.

This is for the XP operating system:
First shut off any Antivirus program, and any other running program just to make sure.
Installation with CFS 3 CD is as follows:

1. Install MS's "Combat Flight simulator 3"

2. Install the CFS3 3.1 patch

3. Install the CFS3 3.1a patch

4. Run Combat Flight Simulator once, fly a mission, shoot down some planes or get shot, whatever - and exit CFS3. (This is needed to generate a directory tree for savegames etc. on your harddisk. You do not need to save anything, or start a campaign in CFS3.)

Then install OFF (unpacking and installing can take a while, do not interrupt the process - make sure the install goes to the right directory, usually C:\Program files\Microsoft Games\CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields):

5. Run OverFlandersFieldsPhase2ReleaseV1.0.exe (790 Mb)

6. Run OverFlandersFieldsPhase2SkinsV1.0.exe (1.01 Gb)

7. Run OverFlandersFieldsPhase2VidsV1.0.exe (530 Mb)

8. Run OverFlandersFieldsPhase2UpdateV1.9.exe (168 Mb)

9. Run OverFlandersFieldsPhase2V1.9eFinalHotfix.exe (57 Mb)

If you want to play over the internet you can install (optionally):

(10.) OverFlandersFieldsPhase2Multiplayer.exe (88kb)

(11.) If there is a problem with a "MSSTDFMT" thing you should unpack and install MSSTDFMT INSTALLER.zip, and register it via the "execute" window that can be found above XP's Start button at the lower left of your screen.

Then run the "cfs3config.exe" FROM THE CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields FOLDER (not the one in the original CFS3 game) and adjust according to the ReadMe or FAQs from Polovski.
Remember to have the second CD in your CD/DVD tray when you play. If you have the DVD version *, it will not have to be in the tray after installing.

Now you are ready to take "OFF" ;o)

* If you have the CFS3 DVD:

Copy the "CFS3.exe" from the CSF3 install into the OFF game folder - delete the old "shell.exe" there first, or backup the file with a different name (e.g. Oldshell.exe). Then rename the copied "CFS3.exe" in the OFF folder to "shell.exe".

or in other words:

1. Navigate to where you installed your DVD version of CFS3 and locate the main CFS3 folder: (mostly) C:\Program files\Microsoft Games\Combat Flight Simulator 3

Multi Player

CFS3, and the total conversions OFF, MAW and PTO Solomon share the same
game server list. The only possibility to differentiate the servers is
that server operators put an 'OFF' in their server's name. Also there is
an user called 'pilotsden' in the
OFF forum.
He is organizing weekly online events for OFF. Just look for an
announcement there.

Update 03-Mar-2008 by Gremlin: Unfortunately Microsoft switched off their CFS3-Servers. The only possiblity to play OFF online is when a mission is hosted by a player.

Start the mission and when allied or axis comes up select whatever side you wish to fly for

Then what aircraft type

Then move to the position

Hit ready to fly

Hit fly

As many different aircraft as there are in the mission are all available for you to fly

Axis included

You will not be bothered by anyone as they dont know your on and also do not know your IP.
Should you wish to host them on multiplay with a friend feel free to do so. I would suggest a form of communication like Teamspeak.
Enjoy.

In case the number of maximum players is limited by the game for
example to 4 players you can increase this by going in your multiplayer
settings and changing the connection speed from for example '56k Dial-up'
to 'T1'. Then the maximum allowable number of 16 players can be hosted
in an multiplayer game. Unfortunately 16 players is the limit imposed
by CFS3.

Tweaks

I have just undergone a new install on my test rig of OFF and I am reminded how good the following tweaks are.
To do these tweaks you need to open the OFF Config app. cfs3config found in your CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields folder.

Firstly the must do's:

Recommended Override settings:

Navigate via:

File, Custom Settings, Window, Overrides.

Select:

Disable Intro Movie

High Resolution Z buffer (deselect Dual Pass Render)

Terrain Detail Texture

Disable Validate Device

Secondly the Frame Rate tweaks:

Recommended Override settings that may improve FPS and smoothness:

Navigate via:

File, Custom Settings, Window, Texture Info.

Composite Terrain Texture Usage â RenderTarget

Composite Terrain Texture Pool - Managed

Composite Aircraft Texture Usage - RenderTarget

Composite Aircraft Texture Pool - Managed

Finally these may offer additional smoothness:

Navigate via:

File, Custom Settings, Window, Overrides.

Select:

Disable Write-Only Vertex Buffers

Disable Write-Only Index Buffers

These tweaks should give you very good and smooth frames and works on both ATI (9800 pro) and Nvidia (7800 GT SLI) and are mentioned in the OFF read.me

Having continued to tweak, the following settings I have found to be the "best" thus far. I find these settings very playable thus far on 4/3/2/4/3 (ATI 4850/512) with frame rates rarely dropping below the high teens in any locale.

To disable messages such as whether you've hit your enemy and warnings such as 'Stall' tick the boxes for 'Disable Chat', 'Disable Advisor Messages' and 'Disable Simulation Warnings'.

Now click on 'Window' at the top of the page again and this time click on 'Texture Info' and set the following:

Composite Terrain Texture Pool - set to Managed

Composite Terrain Texture Usage - set to Rendertarget

Composite Aircraft Texture Pool - set to Managed

Composite Aircraft Texture Usage - set to Rendertarget

Vertex Buffer Pool - set to Managed

Index Buffer Pool - leave as is - should be set to Default

Fullscreen Swap Effect - set to Flip

Now click on the 'Save' button at the bottom of the screen.
Next click on 'File' and choose 'Exit' - do not use the X close button as this will lose the settings you have just made.

Hopefully you will see some improvement with these settings.

From within your \OBDSoftware\CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields\ folder (that's the default install folder anyway) open the 'Default' folder and then open the file 'cfs3.xml'. You may need to use notepad (if you save double check it does not save it as "cfs3.xml.txt" make sure it is "cfs3.xml" only) . Look for MaxFPS="0" and change the value from '0' to something like '30'. This will help to smooth out the stutters too." You can always try increase this figure later (conservatively /gradually ) if your system now works well.